Socialite Judith Heard arrested over leaked nude pictures

City socialite Judith Heard was on Tuesday afternoon arrested by Kampala Central Police over her nude pictures and indecent video that were leaked on social media in May.

Police arrested Heard a few minutes past midday after she was sighted on one of the busy down town Kampala streets weeks after she had reportedly failed to respond to her repeated summons since police started investigations into her leaked nude pictures June.Heard was seen covering her face at Kampala Central Police Station (CPS) in an attempt to evade the inquisitive media.

“We had summoned her twice but she had adamantly refused to honour the summons. We decided to trace for her and we got her today. She has recorded a statement and we have her in our cells,” a police investigator who preferred anonymity said.

The investigator said Heard has become the third person to be arrested over leaked nudes since a General Enquiries File (GEF 28/2018) was opened in June on orders of the anti-pornography desk at the Ethics ministry.

Police said two more socialites, Don Zella and Jack Pemba’s arrest warrants were issued. Three people including a Uganda Christian University (UCU) student, Lillian Rukundo and blogger Ashburg Kato, were arrested early this month and have since been charged and remanded.

Kampala metropolitan police spokesperson, Luke Owoyesigire, could not be reached for an official comment since he was out of office handling the Kabaka coronation anniversary.

The investigator said that in her statement at CPS, Heard said her nude pictures were leaked by her former boyfriend. “We opened a GEF 28/2018 for all nudes that have been leaked on social media and our first target was these socialites. We have three other people who are still at large but we shall get them soon. There other people we are looking for apart from these socialites,” the detective said.

Mr Owoyesigyire early this month confirmed that arrest warrants had been issued for Heard, Don Zella, Jack Pemba and three other non-socialites.

Police said Heard pleaded to be forgiven because she took the nude photos as part of her work as a model but not for social media publication. She reportedly said she has pending modelling trips to Europe and thus needed to be set free. However, police was not convinced about this by press time.[email protected]